ROD BLUM lILt 213 CANNON HOUSE OFFICE BUILDINGWASHINGTON, DC 20515
(202) 225-29111 ST DISTRICT, IOWA
COMMITTEE ON
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Received & Inspected
February 27,2015 t1AR 04 2015
FCC Mail RoomThe Honorable Torn Wheeler
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
Dear Chairman Wheeler:
I write to you today because I am very concerned that the Federal Communications
Commission's (FCC) recent decision to regulate the Internet under Title II of the
Communications Act of 1934 will have a disproportionate impact on small and mid-sized Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) and jeopardize their ability to make future investments in the network.
In the state of Iowa, many homes and businesses receive wireline Internet services from dozens
of small and mid-sized ISPs. By using Title II as a means of enforcing net neutrality, the FCC
will impose unwarranted and onerous burdens on these businesses, increasing costs which are
then passed onto customers and inhibiting their ability to finance and deploy broadband,
especially in rural areas.
The imposition of onerous Title II regulations on small and mid-size ISPs is wholly unwarranted.
These ISPs doing business in Iowa have no incentive to restrict the openness of the Internet. All
face competition from other wireline and/or wireless ISPs and would face significant subscriber
losses if they engaged in blocking, throttling, or discrimination with respect to Internet traffic.
Furthermore, none of these small or mid-sized ISPs have the market power to compel payments
for content providers for paid prioritization because they serve too few subscribers to have
negotiating leverage.
For these reasons, I urge the FCC to exempt small and mid-sized ISPs from the onerous
provisions of Title II.
Rod L. Blum
Member of Congress
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